Have you checked Conrad Electronics? a one off 16F84 costs less than half
the price you mention:
12,95 to 14,95 guilders. That's about the price your boss pays.

greetz John

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Caisson [SMTP:caisson@TELEBYTE.NL]
> Sent: donderdag 6 mei 1999 8:04
> To:   PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
> Subject:      Re: PIC's across the world
>
> > Van: Graham <grichter@MWEB.CO.ZA>
> > Aan: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
> > Onderwerp: PIC's across the world
> > Datum: woensdag 5 mei 1999 14:57
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > I'm from South Africa and I'm studying for a degree in Electronic
> > Engineering. In Pretoria we don't have that many suppliers of electronic
> > components and I was wondering how much a PIC costs anywhere else in the
> > world. I pay 40 Rands for a 16F84 here, and with the current exchange
> > rate I think would be equal to about 5 or 6 Dollars.
>
> I'm living in the Netherlands.  For a 1-off my boss pays about $6.5.   In
> quantities of 100+ the price goes down to about $4.5.  But when I try to
> buy one thru the _electronics-store_ here it'll cost me about $17 (30
> guilders) !
>
> Greetz,
>   Rudy Wieser